The 32-year-old said last week that he was nowhere near retirement age, and could play for Ireland for another five or six years.

But on Friday night, after a hat-trick against the Faroe Islands took his international goal tally to 59, he put his ruthlessness in front of goal down to a wisdom that comes only with age.

“As you get older and wiser, you understand the game a lot more than when you were a kid,” he said.

“As a kid there was a lot of unnecessary running around. As you get older, you ­understand where to go, where to stand, without using your energy.

"Maybe that’s why I’ve scored so many goals. It’s about ­anticipating things, having that instinct.

“I’ve been lucky enough in my career to score a few goals, so I’ll keep going and ­scoring as many as I can.”

Robbie Keane has been good for Giovanni Trapattoni, but Trapattoni has been good for Keane, too.

Before the Italian arrived, the Ireland ­forward scored a goal on average every 2.43 games.

In the 48 games he’s played under Trap, he’s scored every 1.77 games.

It’s a remarkable statistic that illustrates just why the Italian rates his forward so highly, even while many critics were loudly questioning his value to the team.

“I’m not too sure what he’s done,” Keane smiled, when told of his goalscoring ratio under Trap. “It’s certainly a good record to have under one manager.

“He’s been great for me, but not just for me – for the country too. And for whatever ­reason, I’ve scored a lot of goals under him, so hopefully that will continue.

“He’s shown a lot of faith in me from day one.

“Certainly, as a footballer, a striker, you have to believe in your own ability, and know every time you go on the pitch you’re going to score a goal.

“If you don’t have that belief and that ­confidence, it’s not going to happen.”

Keano celebrates putting Ireland 1-0 up

Goals will be required when Ireland face Austria and Sweden in ­September in the ties which will decide their World Cup hopes.

Austria beat Sweden in Vienna on Friday night to leave all three sides on eight points – though crucially, the Scandanavians have a game in hand.

Ireland have the worst goal difference of the main contenders for second place with minus one, thanks to the disastrous 6-1 ­defeat by ­Germany.

Sweden are currently on plus three while the Austrians are a healthy plus nine.

That almost certainly means that the ­Republic will have to take full points and Keane insists Ireland can take six points from the Autumn double header.

“The next two games are crucial now, I think it’s make or break, and we’ll certainly be looking to get six points out of those two games,” he said.

“There’s no reason why we can’t. We can go to Austria and get three points there. I don’t think Austria winning was a surprise. But I don’t think we can worry too much about it. We have to focus on what we can do.

“We can certainly go to Austria and win – get three points – and playing at home we can beat anyone.”

Ireland’s defeat to Germany and the 2-2 draw with Austria would have knocked the wind out of some teams, but Keane is happy with how the players have bounced back from those results.

“It’s been a great couple of weeks for the players, not just the results, but in terms of the way we’ve bonded as a team, that’s been brilliant – and results and good wins bring us together even more.

“After the Germany game it was about ­having balls and standing up for yourself, being a man, and all the players have done that.”